Cops and Killers
by BIGBOIRICKYBRICK
Summary: This is cursed. Please for the love of God don't read this. I wrote this when I was like 12. Please don't judge me.
1. The Museum

_POV Judy_

I hit the wall. Hard. Excruciating pain shot through my right abdomen. "Damn Kevlar" I thought to myself. Knew I should've gone with the deluxe model. I felt like the bullet was ripping me in two. I brought my paw to my side in an attempt to stop the bleeding, and pulling my paw away, finally noticed how bad it really was. Looking down, I realized that I might not make it out of this alive. At that point, everything went black, and all I remember is feeling myself losing balance and falling backwards.

 _POV Nick_

"Judy!" I screeched as she started falling back. I fired four more rounds toward the shooter, and ran to help her into cover. Once safely behind cover, or at least as safe as can be when you have a bullet inside you, I started to feel around with my paw for exactly where the bullet was, and applied the bandage that I was told to use only in emergency situations like this. As soon as I did, I felt her pulse. Luckily, I felt a faint pulse. Granted it could have been me from hallucinating from panic and worry, but I did not care at that moment. Those guys down at the lab might have been dicks, might have thought a predator would end up hurting a prey, but at this point, I was praying that they all got lucky tonight. I heard someone walking across the museum floor behind me.

"You've really outdone yourself, fox. Why don't you run away to your little den, and let us care to the wounded. With our help, she won't be feeling any more pain, soon."

"You stay the hell away from her!" I screamed as I blind fired two rounds out of cover, still watching over Judy. I heard him yelp and I peeked over the small table we were entrenched behind. Blood. Perfect, now was my time to move. I picked up Judy and ran, calling for backup and a med evac on my walkie talkie. I rounded a corner into a hallway just as a sniper shot barely missed me. Finding the emergency steps, I started running up. All those runs with her better not fail me now. As I started reaching the top, I saw more and more light. And a chopper, landing on the roof. Then I saw it. 3 snipers on all 3 skyscrapers surrounding the museum. One took a shot… and hit my leg. Thankfully, however, there was so much adrenaline pumping through my veins that I didn't even notice the pain. Running into the helicopter, I nodded at the pilot and we started taking off. As soon as we were in the air though, things started to get bad. I guess the pilot didn't notice the snipers on the way down, because as soon as we were a respectable distance in the air, he was dead. And down we went.


	2. The Hospital

_POV Nick_

"Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep." was all I could hear. Fucking alarm clock, why do you have to wake me from my slumber. As I sat up, I realized it wasn't my alarm clock, though. Looking around, I panicked. "Where the hell am I?" I wondered, looking around. Thinking for a second, I realized that I was in a hospital. I saw a small viewing port across from my bed, and was able to just barely make out two faces, and hushed voices. Who were they? What were they saying?

"... I have to know if I'm going to be needing to call the coroner, nurse!"

Hearing this, my heart rate rose to an unhealthy level. The heart monitor started beeping profusely, which was followed by a sudden gasp from under the doorway, and the door slammed open just as I forced the monitor's plug out of the wall.

"Sir, you need to calm down!" I heard as a very painful needle was jabbed into my side.

"Gaah, what the he…?" I said as I slumped over, unable to move.

"Wha.. the crap issss….. thiss…?" I said, although said isn't the greatest word. More like choked out.

"That should keep him in that state for a little while." I heard the nurse say. "Now, Chief, Judy has suffered tremendous blood loss. She might not, no, probably won't, make it out of here alive." At that, I tried to scream, but no sound came out.

"Fine. Let's go, let him have some rest." Chief Bogo replied to the nurse. Trying to get their attention, I started trying to sway myself off the bed. At least I could still roll myself, even with the sedative. Sadly, though, I couldn't get myself off the bed before they had left the room, so I decided on something else. Breathing in, and bracing for what could only be an excruciating experience, I rolled myself off the bed. The second I hit the floor, the pain shot through my entire body. I could feel tiny needles, ten times worse than the one the nurse jabbed me with, pricking my sides and legs. And that, knocked me out again.

Thirty minutes later, I came too again. I breathed a sigh of relief that no one had come in my room to notice me lying in the floor in my embarassed state. Then I noticed something. The pain was there again. That meant I had regained control of my body! Pushing myself up, I winced and nearly fell again just from the pain, but was able to manage it. I ripped the IV and medical sensors off of me, making me feel at least a little better being able to move around freely. I grabbed the crutches next to my bed, and walked out the room. Only to rush back in again, with a sharp intake of breath, and an immediate bound of worry. Chief Bogo and the same nurse as before were still there, by a corner in the hallway, where another hallway met it. Struggling to listen over the distance, I barely made out "check" and "Officer Hopps". I made the revelation that they must have been checking on Judy, which sent a jolt of calmness through my body, because it meant at least right now she was still alive. Watching them, I saw one start to move down the hallway and the other follow shortly after.

I then began to tail them. Every step I took sounded like an atomic bomb going off to me, so I watched them to make sure they never turned around, or else I would be screwed. Finally, I saw them start walking toward a room with officer Fangmeyer right next to it, leaning against a wall and watching. He let the Chief and the nurse in the room, and then noticed me.

"Hey wilde, aren't you supposed to be in your room? Want me to escort you back?" Patronizing, as always. I was ready to shoot him right there with a dart gun if I had one.

"Hey, fangsee, I have a proposal. You let me in that room," I said through interlocked and grinding teeth, "and I won't dart you."

"No can do, fox boy. Direct order from the chief. Plus I doubt you have a dart gun on you."

"You know how us foxes can be: sly. We can hide things from our enemies." I chuckled sarcastically, "What's to say I don't have one? Plus, I need to see Judy. So I implore you, Fangmeyer, let me through." I said pleadingly and hoping that he would just let me through.

"Fine. But you're taking the blame for this if chief gets pissed."

He let me through, and I walked in, heart sinking.

"Why are you here, Wilde?" Chief Bogo turned around and asked in an extremely aggravated tone, but I was already rushing past him.

"Judy? JUDY CAN YOU HEAR ME?" I ran up to her and screamed. Noticing her very slight breath, I turned on the nurse.

"Nurse, please tell me she's going to be okay! Please!" I pleaded.

"She's in critical condition, right now. There's no way of knowing for certain whether she's going to make it out of this alive. We've nearly lost her twice already. So it would be great if you could head back to your respective bed, and go to sleep, sir!" she responded in a calm manner.

"No, fuck that." I said, louder than I originally intended. "I'm going after these scumbags."

"What? Out of the question." Chief Bogo and the nurse said in unison.

"Chief, with all due respect, I honestly don't give a shit what you say right now. You too, nurse. I could be bleeding profusely, dying with every step, and I wouldn't care. I'm going to find who did this to Judy. Even if it's the last thing I do."

Chief responded, "You idiot! If you head out now, there won't be any way to save Judy! You're the only one who knows how to find the perpetrators, and if you walk out, they'll either kill you the second you get out, or you'll fall over on the way out from pain."

"Well, guess I better be careful then." I said as I was walking out the room. Outside, I looked around and decided the big exit sign hanging from the top was my way out. Then I realized Chief Bogo was probably right about the hitmen, so I decided to head out back. Walking toward the door, I heard someone run up behind me.

"Sir! Please wait!" I heard the nurse say.

"You can't stop me. Nothing you say or do will."

"I know. Just, take this. It'll hopefully help you. We found it on Officer Hopps when we brought her into the operating room."

Looking down, I saw her holding out a small note out to me. I took it and began reading it.

 _Judy Hopps_

 _7/20/16_

 _Journal_

 _These guys are held up tight in the museum. We need another way to get to them. I remember the witness we talked to mentioning something about a Sky Rises apartment building where they had an apartment with a bunch of their "tools". Whatever that means. Really wish I could give these notes to Nick, but I know it'd be too worrying for him. While I was off duty, I decided to talk to some more people to try to find out what's been going on. And they mentioned that they overheard two people saying that "they need to split up that fox and bunny, specifically the fox."_

Upon reading the last line, I swallowed. "Why do these people have a problem with Judy and me?" I asked myself. Whatever, they're assholes. Can't expect them to have logic for what they do.

"Thank you." I said, turned around, and walked out the back door. As soon as I walked, precautionarily I checked all the near rooftops and I already saw them. One lonely barrel poking out of a window, pointing down toward the entrance of the hospital. Sticking to the shadows I crept slowly across the street, and ran in. I called Chief on my phone to lock down the hospital, and make sure no one came in or out. I then said the same thing to the manager of what I'm guessing was a hotel.

"Are you insane? This time is when we get our most customers! We'll lose millions of dollars!" He replied.

"Are you? There is a sniper watching the hospital above us, and in case you couldn't tell, I'm Officer Wilde! If you don't lock down this area, many innocent lives may be lost. So sir, lockdown this area, or you will be detained, and I will be forced to lock it down myself."

"Jesus, fine! Where's the doorman?" The manager said, obviously pissed about this whole ordeal.

Annoyed with this exchange, I headed up the stairs. And then I realized my fatal mistake. At the hospital, to be able to check over my wounds and everything, they removed all my gear and laid it to the side of me. Thus, I was in a hospital gown, and didn't have my gun. Despite this realization, I kept running up the stairs, without care. Hell, if I died today, at least it all would be over. As I neared the room from where the barrel was poking out from, I noticed a weird looking plant. Walking over to it, I observed it and… perfect! A dart gun! Bet this guy was worried about the cops coming after him after he shot me. Little did he know, he would be on the receiving end, not them. Walking up to the door, I readied myself. Tilting my whole body back, and lifting my right paw, I kicked out forward. Direct hit. The door slammed open, I heard a gasp, and I started shooting.


	3. The Hotel

_POV Nick_

When I kicked in the door, harrowing agony went up my right leg, starting from my bullet wound. I began to feel my stomach drop as I tipped backward with my gun in my paw shooting rounds at the sniper. Regaining my balance, I leaned forward on my crutches, their hard arm rests poking into my side, and fired more at him.

"Ah, shit." I heard him exclaim, just before I heard a dampened thump. Walking forward into the strangely large room for someone who was doing such a spatially small task, I looked where he had dropped to the floor.

"Ouch." was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the relatively large needle stuck out of his small raccoon neck. Kneeling down as best I could, every movement sending small jolts of hurt through my body, I fished out the hypodermic needle from his neck and called the Chief.

"Yeah, Chief? I took care of that little exit problem you had at the hospital. Hmm? No, just out cold. Yeah, have a squad car just come pick him up. Perfect, I'm in the…" I paused to think of the hotel. Would the hotel with the jackass manager be an acceptable description? "The red hotel right across from the hospital. Yes, that one. Ok, thanks. I'll be waiting here. I believe it's room 426. Thanks, ciao." I already heard as I hung up the phone that Chief had started to speak into his radio. Deciding I needed to relax, I found a nice couch seat in the apartment and sat down. Pretty quickly, I dozed off.

"Nick. You're my best friend. Come talk to me. I need your help." Judy calmly said to me.

"What do I need to do? Please help me, Judy! I don't know what to do!" I replied, in a very panicked and frustrated tone.

"Nick, to wake me up, all you need to do is-," she said just as a bullet hit her in the back.

"No!" I screamed. "Judy, help me! What do I need to fix this? What do I need to do?"

"You need to… you need to go to-" suddenly her voice turned very masculine.

"Enjoying your nap, Officer Piberius?"

Great, of course, it was him who had come to pick this guy up. Before I even opened my eyes, I recognized that patronizing, annoying voice. Martel.

"Will you shut your trap, Martel? Or will I have to do it for you?" I snarled out through gritted teeth. Why did Chief send this joker, he knows I don't like him.

"Ooh, we've got a tough guy over here. I don't think you have it in you, Wilde. I think you're just a little insecure fox, who needs to get the hell away from Judy before you do something to her that she doesn't want you to do." He said, increasingly condescending toward the ending.

"See eventually, we'll be the only people on the force. You predators will be forced to do what you've been born to do: work. Work like there's no tomorrow. Hey, I hear they need extra people down at the metal mine, maybe you can get a head start on your colleagues. It'll make us remove your filth from the force that much easier"

"I'd love to see the day that's true. Now can you please just take that body, and leave me be. I believe this guy booked out the night anyway and fighting with you has only made me more tired." I replied.

Grumbling in an annoyed way, something about predators having to pay for this, for our "crimes". He picked up the body and walked out the room, slamming it closed on the way out. Even if he's small and annoying and even though I hate that I was able to, I could admit that he was strong for his size. Pondering on his ludicrous accusations, I sniffled once. Then I sniffled again.

"What the hell is happening to me?" I wondered out loud, just as it dawned on me. I didn't think of Judy as just a friend, or just a partner, even. I thought of her as more. I cursed myself for thinking it, but deep down I knew I couldn't deny it. I was in love. And it was the first time it had ever happened. Every time I saw her picture, my heart jumped. Every time I talked to her, my heart raced. Now I understood why she had always asked me if I was feeling ok, and that I looked red, every time I talked to her! Pondering on this sudden change of thought, I slowly fell asleep.

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing.

"Ugh," I said to no one in particular. "I need to change that damn ringtone. Furizon is always bad, I don't know why I expected their ringtone to not sound horrible." Leaning over, and feeling a bit of protest from my weary bones, I grabbed my phone off the table. How did it get there? I thought to myself. I don't remember putting it there, I thought. Whatever must've done it right before I went to sleep. Looking at the screen, I saw it was Chief Bogo.

"Sir?" I said groggily, bringing the phone up to my ear.

"Get to the hospital, now." He said, loudly. That line instantly woke me up. Screw my morning coffee, and screw these crutches. Big mistake. The second I stood up, I fell on my side. I felt like someone had just taken a hacksaw to my leg and removed it without anesthesia! Forcing myself up and disregarding the pain, I begrudgingly grabbed my crutches. Making my way to the elevator, I noticed that thankfully it didn't have the "Out of Order" sign the one from yesterday did. Getting into it, I started to go down. Reaching the bottom floor, and seeing the hospital through the front glass doors, sent an immediate response of urgency through me.

"And where the hell have you been?" The snarky manager asked me while I was moving as fast as I could toward the door. "We've lost millions! Millions, I tell you! And all because you couldn't get the hell out of my hotel!"

"Bite me. Oh wait don't, because I might go savage. Those are night howler plants, right?" I said, gesturing toward a set of plants to my right.

At this, I noticed a small gulp before he quickly recomposed himself, but I knew I had gotten to him.

"What's to say I don't just waltz over there and have a bite of it? I heard they taste phenomenal!" I said nonchalantly, all the while walking, or rather hobbling, over toward the exit.

"Alright, fine, leave then. But never come back!" He said, voice shaking beyond belief.

"Wasn't planning too," I said before I walked out the door. The sun hitting my skin was a blessing. I reveled in the nice warmness for a second before realizing what I was supposed to be doing and rushed across the surprisingly not too dense street into the hospital. Rushing in, I was brought quick memories from yesterday. Fear, worry, sadness. Running as best I could, I went up the steps toward where Chief said he'd be. I could see as I walked up to him he was breathing heavily and had bags under his eyes, causing my worry to multiply exponentially.

"Chief, what is it?" I asked, before looking through the porthole and feeling my heart skip a beat.

"Chief, why are there so many doctors surrounding Judy? Why? Chief answer me! **Why?!** "

"Her heart's beating irregularly and her breath intake is slowing drastically. Wilde, we have to face the fact. She might be on her last leg here. I called you here so you could go in there and say your goodbyes."

" **What? NO! She will not die on my watch!** " I screamed before I rushed into the room and towards her.


	4. Hope

POV Nick

Reaching the side of the bed, I grabbed her paw.

"Judy, don't do this to me!" I pleaded, the only response being the constant erratic beeping coming from the heart monitor.

"Sir, you can't be in here. Please leave." A nurse said to me.

"She's my partner! Does that mean nothing to you?" I replied, my tone rich of anguish and annoyance.

"Oh! I'm so so so so so so sorry!" She replied.

"Get a load of this guy. Doesn't he know interspecies relationships aren't usually fertile and all that…? He should date another fox, it'd be good for him" I overheard her say gossip quietly to a doctor.

"Ma'am, I can hear you perfectly fine from here!" I said, angrily. Breathing in deeply, I looked at her.

"If you have a problem, please address it to my face." She then started to turn away, but not before I saw her cheeks turn blazing red and a small tear drip down the side of her face. I instantly felt badly for her. She probably never got to truly enjoy life, it was probably all taken up by her profession.

Thinking about life being taken up by profession, my mind instantly snapped back to Judy, and my heart jumped.

"Judy, please don't do this! Please!" I said, panic in every syllable. At that, I thought I saw her twitch, and my heart skipped a beat.

"Huh? Wait, was that?" I paused, unsure of what I saw. "Judy! Judy, you're gonna be ok!" I screamed, and the doctors looked at me like I was a lunatic.

"Sir, what is the matter?" One of them asked me.

"I saw her move! I swear I saw her move!" I screamed, my heart speeding up quickly and my tone leaping an octave every word.

"Sir, it is normal to see or hear things in times of worry. But please, for everyone's sake, please try to remain as calm as possible. I assure you: if we confirm that something is happening for you, we will have Chief Bogo inform you immediately. But for the time being, we need you out of here." The doctor said to me. I sighed out of frustration and replied, "Alright, but please, take good care of her." "We will, don't worry." was the only thing he said before ushering me out of the room and returning, strapping on a surgical mask and inspecting her.

"Why do they look like they're getting ready for surgery?" I asked Chief Bogo.

"I wondered the same thing. I asked one of them, he said that it's because "we must take every precaution necessary." Probably just that in case they need to go into emergency surgery, they don't have to be scrambling for tools and equipment before they do so."

"Smart man," I replied. "Listen, I'm gonna head out."

The Chief, surprised, looked down at me.

"Really?" He said, astounded. "I thought you two were inseparable!"

"We are, which is why I can't stay here. I just can't stand to see her like this, all tied up and chained to machines. She's a bunny Chief, she's meant to roam free." I said.

"Alright, if that's what you feel is best. Here, they gave me all the items she had on her when she was brought in. Take her apartment key, I believe it was," he paused, searching through the satchel of items he was holding. "Here. Check and make sure everything's alright. Then head back to your apartment and relax for the night. I don't want any more policing out of you. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." I said, starting to walk away.

"Oh, and Wilde? Don't do anything to her apartment."

"No promises, Chief!" As I walked out the hospital, I looked down at my watch. 11:41, its small, circular face read. I sighed and thought to myself "It's never too late for coffee, right?" Walking toward her apartment, I spotted a Snarlbucks. Perfect! Walking inside, the barista greeted me with a friendly "Hello!" and asked for my order.

"Just a coffee, thanks." I said.

"Julie, make this nice man a coffee!" She screeched at someone behind her.

"Can do!" I heard from the crowd of workers behind the counter.

"That'll be two dollars and fifty-seven cents. So, how has your day been?"

"Here." I handed her the money and paused at the question. Thinking of a simple but message conveying answer, I replied "Terrifying."

"Well, I'd assume so, Officer Wilde. What with all the bad guys after you." I could see she was trying and failing, at hiding an embarrassed smile. Must've thought I was as cool as an international spy.

"How did you know my name, may I ask?" I was honestly curious, considering how many people she must see on a daily basis come through here, and especially since at least a fraction of those have to be famous. I mean, this is Zootopia, after all.

"Oh, you and that Bunny are all over the news." She said, pointing at the radio on the counter. "It's so interesting to hear everything about you two."

"Well, it's not everything. Only the actiony stuff. Not the more personal stuff." I said.

"Ok, I might be a little too forthright here, but can I ask you something?"

"Um, ok? I guess?"

"Do you want to go out tonight? I mean, you're really cute and I want to meet a little more of you. A lot more, I'm sure." She said with a wink.

"Um...?" I trailed off.

"You don't have to say anything, I can see it in your eyes." She said beaming. "So how about at 8 pm tonight, you meet me at my apartment, and you can let me… learn some more about you?" She asked while twirling her hair in her fingers. "Oh, and bring your gun. You won't be needing any bullets, though, not where you'll be taking it." She giggled and slipped a piece of paper to me.

"Thanks." I said, trying to hide my surprise from her. I didn't really want her number, or to meet up with her, I just wanted to chat. "Whatever." I thought to myself as I walked out of the store. Crumpling up the paper in my hand, I threw it in a trash can. Reaching Judy's apartment building, I looked up. Still to this day, I am amazed at how many little apartments that landlord was able to fit into this place. Walking up the stairs, I heard an audible gasp coming from the apartment next to her's, with a "Judy, you're back!" coming from inside.

"No such luck, pals. I'm here to check on her apartment while she's in the hospital." I replied.

"I told you Judy wouldn't be back this quickly! That's five bucks for me!" I heard, followed by a laugh. Walking into Judy's apartment, I was hit by the many pleasant smells I had learned to associate with her. The Earth, carrots, that sort of stuff. Looking around her tiny apartment, I immediately picked out all the stuff that was wrong. With a yawn, I got to work.

Cleaning up her apartment wasn't too hard, especially since it was relatively tiny. Even for a bunny. The only areas in it where a closet, which I threw some mothballs into to keep clean, the kitchen, where I washed the piled up dishes and opened a few windows, and the room with Judy's bed and her desk. Can't imagine how cheap the rent must be. She had to have been able to afford something better. "Whatever, maybe one day she'll be moving in with me." I thought hopefully and excitedly at the new proposition. Then I received a text from Chief.

"Judy's starting to wake up, she's barely conscious, but lucid nonetheless. If you want to be one of the first faces she sees, get here now."

Beginning to type, I sent a response. "Its alright I'll just stay n relax on her couch I heard her carrot dishes r prtty good."

"Wilde, not in the mood for this right now."

"Im kidding. OMW, sir."


	5. End to Nap Time

_POV Nick_

As I walked up to the hospital, night began to fall, and everything started getting quieter and darker. Once I got inside, I immediately started walking with renewed pace toward where Chief Bogo had been standing before I left him. Walking up to the doorway of the room, I noticed through the looking porthole a look of fear mixed with hope on his face. When I got to him, I saw that he was standing with a doctor, and that they were standing next to a relatively still bunny.

"You mentioned Judy waking up?" I said as I walked in the room.

"Nick?" I heard a faint but familiar voice quietly say.

"Carrots!" I said, voice leaping 3 octaves as I bolted over to her bedside.

"Nick, I'm very," She paused. "I'm very" She paused again, "I'm very scar-" she paused, for the last time before trailing off, her paw that she had been holding out to me falling.

"Judy? Judy! Judy, you're gonna be-" I stopped talking, having noticed that she was still breathing and subsequently feeling extremely embarrassed. Seeing my probably red like fire cheeks from my assumption and embarrassment, the doctor started to speak up.

"She's all hopped up on painkillers, at the moment. She should be more responsive in the morning." The doctor said.

"That's alright, I can wait." I asked, hope in my voice. I then started firing multiple questions at the doctor in rapid succession.

"Is everything OK with her? Is she recovering completely and fully properly? When am I gonna be able to walk out with her again?" I asked, not giving the doctor nearly enough time in between question to answer appropriately.

"Woah there, slow down. Yes, she's going to be fine. Just a few bumps and scratches." The doctor paused. "And the bullet wound as well."

"Has it affected her in any way other than pain?" I asked, brain racing through the million worst case scenarios I could think of.

"It shouldn't, but there's no telling for sure yet. She'll certainly have trouble walking initially after we get her out of here, after that, there's no telling if she'll heal in a couple days, a couple months, or never. It's looking good, though, considering all our tests show no massive damage to tissues and muscles."

"Well that's good. Alright, if you guys want, you can leave. I'm gonna stay here."

"Wilde, she's not gonna wake up till morning anyway, go home, get some sleep."

"Sir, with all due respect, no. I'm going to stay here with her. You and the doctor can go if you want, I'll let you know if we need help or anything." Hearing this, the Chief sighed, knowing that he would not be able to change my mind. Seeing them walking out the room, I turned my attention back to Judy.

"Finally, some alone time." I said jokingly to Judy, hoping she was able to hear me, but quickly realizing she probably was not.

"Heh, what's the point?" I said to no-one in particular. But then, I heard a very faint noise. Almost like a mouse running across a street. As I listened, the noise got louder. I could almost make out what it was saying now.

"What's that -" I started to say, before being able to make out the voice.

"You dumb fox." Hearing this, I looked down, immediately sure of what it was, and I saw the most perfect little grin. A grin which, despite attempts to be stifled, grew wider and wider. Until it wasn't a grin anymore but full blown laughter.

"Haha, you got me, hooray. Let's not forget who's the clever one here, carrots." I said, unable to hold in a laugh as well.

"That's going to change very quickly at this rate, fox!" She said in between breaths, but then she stopped and as I looked down at her, I saw the smallest of winces.

"That doctor wasn't wrong about the bullet hole being a nuisance, every time I breathe, a bit of pain shoots up my right side." She said, obviously trying to keep me from worrying.

"Judy, if you need me to get anything, just ask." I said, hoping she would ask for something, anything I could get or do to help her feel better.

"Could you get me some food, please? I'm starving. Just something small out of a vending machine would be perfect."

"You got it." I said with a smile. "In fact, I'll get you something better." Walking out the door, I walked up to the first nurse I saw and asked,

"Can the patient in room twenty-seven have solid food? And if yes, where is the cafeteria?"

"Yes, and right down this hall, to the right. You can't miss it, it has a big sign that says cafeteria."

"Perfect." I said. Walking down the hallway, I started to notice how busy this place really was. There was a seemingly endless crowd of patients walking around, along with some doctors and nurses talking and leaning against a wall. I ignored all of this, though, as I was on a mission. Walking into the cafeteria, I got to the back of the line, tapping my right paw on the ground. Great, I had to choose the perfect time to get here, right when all the doctors were on break.

"Excuse me sir, may I pass in front of you? I really want to get some food for my friend as fast as possible, since she can't get up to get it herself." I asked the Zebra in front of me.

"You got to wait in line like everyone else, kid." He said to me.

"Sir, please! She got shot and now is confined to her bed."

"Listen pal, I've waited for a long time here too. For all I know, you're just lying to get yourself food faster."

"Look, I'll even pay for you, just please let me go ahead." He was about to speak in response, but paused to consider this offer. Looking up at him, I saw his face produce a grin, and he held out his hand.

"Ok, what I'm getting is five dollars and thirty two cents, pay up." He said. I gladly gave him the money, happy to move ahead. I then heard him start to talk on the phone.

"Yeah this guy just paid for my lunch because he wanted to move up a space in the line. What an idiot, I bet it's not gonna save him much time anyway." Normally, I would have retorted back, but at this point, I couldn't care less about his statements. I would be willing to pay my entire existence for every second I could remove before I would be able to get Judy her much deserved food. Finally, the line started to move a little. Getting toward the front, I was finally able to get Judy some food.

"Hello, sir. May I take your order?"

"Well, I hope so." I said, relieved that the wait was over. "Can I get a carrot stew, a large lettuce leaf, a large "Bunny Surprise" salad, with extra carrots and cranberries, and a small cup of blueberries, please?" I said, hoping that they would have the blueberries, I needed them after this eventful day.

"Coming right up, sir!" She said, looking back down at the cash register. That'll be eleven seventy-nine, and a picture with you holding your badge up to the camera."

I started to reach for my wallet, but then realized what she had said.

"Excuse me?"

"A picture, for my children! They are really amazed by you and your partner, Officer Hopps! You're two are an inspiration to us all!"

"Well isn't that so? Oh, what can I say?" I said as I pulled my badge out of my pocket and flashed it for the camera.

"Thank you so much!" She said beaming, and handed me my, or at least very partially my, food. Walking back toward where Judy was lying down, she looked astonished at the multi-course meal I brought back.

"Oh my gosh, Nick you shouldn't ha-" I stopped her in her tracks.

"You would've done the same for me." I said with a smile, as I tossed a couple blueberries into my mouth.

"Bon appetit."


	6. Escape from the Hospital

_POV Judy_

Tasting the carrots calmed my on edge nerves. Finally, the gnawing pain subsided, and I was able to lie in bed, eat, and be calm.

"You know, I can't say thanks enough for bringing me this!" I said to Nick.

"No problem, just eat up." He replied, as he popped a couple blueberries into his mouth. Nick really had turned around from his criminal past, even if some people might still not like him being on the force. Thinking of the force, I remembered how I ended up here.

"Wait Nick, if you're here, then where are those two shooters?" I said, panicking for his safety because he was here with me.

"Judy, it's fine. Chief Bogo is around here somewhere, if something was wrong, he'd tell-"

"I don't want you to get hurt, Nick! If anything happened to you, I wouldn't be able to live with myself! Especially not for allowing someone I love to die!" I spat out, realizing what I had said immediately after I had said it. Cheeks turning red, and noticing him tilting his head and looking weirdly at me, I started to stammer and change what I had said.

"Yo… you-... you know, as a friend." I hammered out.

"Right." He said, disbelief in his tone. What would he think of me now? A bunny liking a fox? We used to get killed by foxes! After a pause, he spoke again.

"Keep eating, you'll need the strength." He sounded defeated; as if he couldn't make up his mind about something.

"Hey, can I ask you for another favor?"

"Sure. Whatever you need."

"First thing tomorrow, come and get me out of this place. Please. I want to go home." I asked of him, praying he'd say sure or no problem or something like that.

"I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"You're still not well, Judy. I can't be taking you out of here when you've got a bullet inside you."

"Right." I said, and sighed. Taking another sip of my stew, silence fell upon the room. I could see him thinking, debating within himself to do something or not to.

"Hey, I've got to use the bathroom. Are you alright here by yourself?" Nick asked.

"Yeah. See you soon." I said, watching him leave the room. As soon as he stepped out the room, I cursed myself for not watching what I had said.

"Damnit, Judy! You worked so hard to get here, and now you're gonna throw it all away for some fox?" I said angrily to myself. "No more. Can't let that happen again." I sighed and resigned to eat some more of my stew. Starting to relax from the stew once more, I fell asleep.

"Good morning, carrots!" I heard a familiar jovial voice say.

"And a good morning to you too, Nick!" I said, happily.

Sitting up, I remembered I had been eating before I fell asleep and wondered where my food had went. As if he had read my mind, Nick placed the carrot stew in my lap.

"Don't worry, I didn't eat it." He said. "Do you want to head out later today?" Surprised at his question, I looked at him with a confused expression on my face.

"I thought you said you didn't want me heading out and whatnot?"

"They've kindly provided you a wheelchair, which I personally test drove, and made sure it could um," He paused. "handle speed." He said, following that up with a chuckle.

"Oh, ok then! But what did you do with my wheelchair?" I said, excited to finally be able to get out of the hospital and go about, but curious about Nick's statement.

"Let's just say the wheelchair ramp outside has a hill by it."

"Alright, but my apartment must be a mess, can you help me clean it when we leave?" I said, hopeful that he would say "yes, Carrots, of course."

"Well it's not like it's already been taken care of." He said, sarcastically, with a grin on his face.

"Wait, how did you manage to get into my apartment? And when?" I asked, hoping that he didn't pick the lock or something.

"Bogo handed me the key the other day and told me to tidy it up. Make it nice and cosy for when you got out. I have to admit, there was a small lapse in time where I thought all of it would go to waste, but then somehow you pulled through. Bit of an amazing feet to withstand a bullet, if you ask me."

"You give me too much credit, Nick. If you hadn't been there, I would be dead right now." I said, thankful that he would work so hard to save me. Sensing more thoughts coming from thinking of him, I pushed the topic out of my brain, and began to ask what time we were going to head out.

"Most likely about," He paused, thinking over it. "Probably about 4 pm or so, since it's 12 now." He said calmly, before noticing the latter of what he had said.

"Holy crap, it's 12 pm already?" He said, surprised by his sudden revelation. "How did we sleep that long?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but calming medicines in needles seem to help quite a bit." I said.

"I'll accept that. So what do you want to do once I roll you out of here? Cause the first thing can't be go to your apartment."

"And why can't it?" I said, facetious offense present in my voice. "What if I just want to watch Netflix and relax?"

"While I can't disagree that I like that idea, it's too special of an occasion for that. Oh, I have an idea! Let's go have some real food for a change! I'll pay."

"It's settled then. Where do you want to go?"

"Entirely up to you."

"Hmm," I stopped and thought where to go to get food. "What about that bar and restaurant place like a mile away from here? Think it's called The White Fluff. I heard it's really good, and I don't want you spending a lot, especially since you saved my life, not me yours."

"Well, imagine it as me saving your life once more from the tragedy that is cafeteria food." He said, which I responded to with a chuckle. We let the rest of the day go on with relaxed chatting and jokes. When 4 o'clock arrived, he asked me, "So you ready to head out?"

"Yeah, just let me grab my phone and stuff." I replied, as I reached over toward the small table next to my bed to grab my things. Earlier, he asked one of the nurses how to help me in and out of the wheelchair, and she showed him, so now he picked me up and plonked me down in it, and we were off. Wheeling me down the hallway, I started to get excited. Finally, I was able to go about again! On our way out, Chief Bogo spotted us.

"Where are you two going?" He asked, suspiciously. "Are you even supposed to be able to leave yet, Officer Hopps?"

"The nurse said it's alright, and I'm just taking her to a restaurant to get some real food anyway. We're not exactly going skydiving or something extreme like that." Nick said to the Chief. In reply, the Chief sighed, and only said, "Alright." Walking, or technically rolling, out the hospital doors, Nick started heading for the restaurant.


	7. The Restaurant

_POV Judy_

Being wheeled around by Nick wasn't a too bad experience. I didn't have to use my feet, and I could help out a little by pushing on the wheels. Crossing streets was a pain, though. We nearly got hit by a car once, and Nick being Nick yelled at them for doing so.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" He called angrily at the person, wheeling me out of the way.

"I've got places to be, fox! And one of those places isn't stuck behind you, so move along!" The camel yelled back, annoyed about our admittedly not extremely fast paced crossing.

"Yeah, whatever." Nick called, obviously defeated.

"Well that was interesting." I said, as Nick wheeled me the rest of the way through the intersection.

"Eh, I've seen worse. In a city so big, people always seem to have such little time to live their lives and be happy." He said, surprisingly me a little with his sudden revelation.

"Deep, brah." I said, in a surfer dude accent while giggling and looking up at him. At that, I saw his mouth twitch up a little into a smirk, before he looked over to the left, and I saw him start to look excited.

"Hey look, we're here!" He said, pushing me toward the restaurant. Reaching the front doors, I noticed the hostess standing out front behind a small podium with what looked like a reservation book.

"Hello, sir and madam. Table for two?" The hostess asked.

"Yes, that would be great."

"A waitress will be around with the menus in a minute." She said to Nick and me as he sat down, having deposited me opposite from him.

"Finally, out that hospital."

"Yeah, it was starting to get boring there, having to sit around, not doing anything. Oh, by the way, I read the little journal entry you had done."

"Oh. Um." I trailed off, feeling sorry for him.

"Is everything ok?" I asked, knowing what was in my notes would trouble him deeply.

"Yeah, it's fine. They can't do anything to us anyway, so why waste time worrying?"

"But they can hurt us, can't they. They already did."

"Yes, but I've taken care of one of them, so the rest are sure to follow. Like ducklings going after their mother." I was surprised by this, since Nick hadn't told me he went out to do some policing. "And if Martel did his job, which I most certainly hope he did, we have someone waiting back at the ZPD to be interrogated."

"Oh, what happened?" I asked, eager to learn about Nick's quick adventure while I was asleep.

"Ok, so basically, when I woke up and you were near death, I went crazy, basically. I was prepared to run out the door, and fling myself at the first person I saw. Naturally, that not being good, Bogo was able to talk me down to Earth, but I still wanted to head out to get revenge. He told me to go out the back door since he was sure there would be someone watching, waiting, at the front door for me or you. So I went out, and there they were. Someone across the street in a hotel room was peeking out the window with a sniper rifle at the doors. So me being heroic as I am, I went over there, under the cover of shadows, and let's just say made him consider a nice long nap. After that, I called the Chief who sent over Martel, he picked up the guy, and everything was fine. Oh, and by the way, never go to that hotel. The manager only cares about money, he was fuming in rage at me for having to lockdown the building to get the guy. And of course Martel wasn't any better either."

"Oh gosh, condescending as always? With how bad he treats you, you'd think he had some vendetta against predators." I said, annoyance in my voice. There was something about Martel that had always made my fur crawl, and I could tell it was the same with Nick. "You know, I feel like sometimes he might go too far with his anti-predatory shpeel." I said.

"Well, he does act annoying as all hell, but I don't think he's crazy. He wouldn't betray the force or anything like that. He's not stupid."

"A lack of stupidity can be worked around." I simply replied, hoping to quickly put an end to this talk of Martel.

"Hi, may I start you off with some drinks?" Came a sweet voice from the side of our table.

"Oh, sure, I'll have the," Nick paused, "Oh, why not, let me get the" And then he rattled off some fancy sounding ale name. "It's a celebration. And you want" he looked up at me.

"Oh, just a cranberry juice, thanks." I said.

"I'll be right back." The waitress said, and handed us our menus.

"Bit of a one sided celebration, don't ya think. Kind of annoying: I can't have some wine over the next few days because I'm pumped full of medicines, but you can have all the drinks you want. Maybe you'll have to be the one in the wheelchair and me wheeling you." I said, with a short laugh.

"That'll just make the return oh so much more enjoyable." Nick said with a smile. "Anyway, you're the one with a speed machine here, not me." He said, indicating my wheelchair. "Don't have to write you up for a DUI now, do I?" He said.

"Oh yes, because I'm endangering so many lives steering this thing." I said, sarcastically.

"I feel scared right now!" Nick said.

"Haha." I said, sarcastically, but still unable to hide an actual laugh.

"And here you go!" All of a sudden 2 drinks were on the table.

"Ooh, fancy!" I heard Nick exclaim, eyeing his drink thoughtfully.

"Do you two know what you want to eat?"

"I'll just have the carrot delight. You?"

"Can I get the Eggplant Parmesan? Thanks."

"Alright, I'll let the chef know." The waitress said, and walked off.

"Ooh, a jukebox!" Nick exclaimed and walked over to the electronic wall mounted jukebox. Putting in two quarters, he tapped on its screen, and turned away with a smile. Instantly, a robotic voice came on the speaker.

"And now up: Rick Antley's Never Gonna Give You Up." the robotic voice said. Knowing instantly what was going to happen, I watched Nick dance goofily back to the table and sit down.

"Oh God, the internet in real life!" I said, unable to hide a grin while he sat back down. Looking around, some people chuckled, some looked at the speakers with an annoyed look on their faces, and the rest just plain ignored it.

"Don't worry, I'll put on something serious in a little bit." Nick said.

"I might not be able to trust you with music after this." I said laughing. "Hey, so about that guy you captured at the hotel."

"Yeah?" Nick said, and took a sip of his drink.

"Was he with anyone else? Was there anything else going on in the hotel?"

"There was no one else there, but oddly they were growing nighthowler plants in like a glass surrounded plant section in the main lobby."

"After what happened before? That _is_ odd. Hm, maybe that's a new lead." I said, happy for clues, but worried for Nick because of the presence of night howlers.

"I don't really wanna talk about the case, it's boring. How's your stomach?" Nick asked me, thoughtful as always.

"Better but I still feel a little bit of pain every time I breath." I could see him looking at me with a worried expression. "But yeah, no, it's not too bad."

"Well that's good, I guess." At this point the waitress deposited our food. Before saying another word, we glanced up into each other's eyes and could tell both of us were thinking the same thing: "Enough talk, let's eat." And we dug in.

"This is actually really good!" Nick said to me, mouth full of food. "How's your carrot delight? Hopefully delightful."

"That was horrible." I said, but still was unable to hold in a laugh. "It's good, though."

"Calm down your nerves?"

"Yeah, it's actually helping a lot. Thanks. For everything." I said, hoping that I wasn't blushing too much. Gosh, my general "cool" persona around Nick was dissolving right in front of my eyes, and I could do nothing to stop it.

"It's the least I could do. Hey, you're my partner, right?" He said, looking down suddenly. Choosing to ignore this sudden change of expression, I just decided to answer his, albeit rhetorical, question.

"You know it." I said, voice slightly shaky. Silence fell upon us for a short period of time, while we finished up our food and our drinks.

"That. Was. Great." Nick said, pausing shortly in between each word as he leaned back in his chair and patted his stomach. The waitress, seeing that we were done, then grabbed our plates, and brought back the check.

"Whenever you're ready." She said, and walked off.

"Split the bill?" I asked Nick.

"Are you crazy? This is a celebration! You're out of the hospital! I got it. Anyway, it's not going to be much. We're not exactly a large group."

"Are you absolutely sure? Cause I could pay part of it off, don't feel obliged to-"

"Absolutely not. Now let's see to you getting back to your pristine apartment, shall we?" He interrupted me with. He proceeded to hand the check back to the waitress, stuffed with his money, and we were off once more.


	8. The Apartment

_POV Judy_

A half hour later, we finally rolled over the last bump on the corner, and were on my house's block. Nick and I chatted about random things and how soon I'd be able to get back on duty with him to pass the time until we pulled up to the front of the building and the large glass revolving doors.

"Welcome back, madam Hopps." The French doorman said to me, and nodded to Nick, before holding the door open for him to push me through.

"Thanks." He said, relaxed as could be. I felt my wheels hit the carpet in the lobby, and started growing ecstatic.

"Finally!" I said, excited as could be, deeply breathing in the air of the lobby. Some people looked at me like I was crazy, but I paid them no attention. I was home! Nick just smiled, nodded to the people glancing at me, who was admittedly making a bit of a scene, and pushed me into the elevator.

"Don't get too excited, Carrots." He said, facetiously, as he pushed the button labeled "seventy-two". "You still have to listen to the elevator music."

"One hell of a low price to pay for the ability to lie down in my own bed!" I said. "In fact, I'm in such a good mood, I could dance to the elevator music!" I replied, laughing.

"Don't!" He said, trying to keep serious. "I don't want to have to save us from a falling elevator from you jumping up and down in it so much!" This prompted me to remember the moment that Nick and I were driving in the "joke-mobile" as he called it, I started rocking out, and he had to grab the wheel to keep it from careening into the wrong side of the road. Thinking back, I've been in a lot of near death situations, but they don't change my mind about being a police officer. Then we felt a small jolt and the elevator suddenly began to slow down, causing us to stop at a floor a couple below mine. The doors opened, and before I knew what was happening, a friendly voice came out from the hallway.

"Judy?" I instantly knew who was talking. Why was she here, though?

"Hey Jamie!" I said, completely astounded as to the short grey bunny standing in front of me. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just dropping by visiting my friend. Went out to get some food for the both of us." She said, as she walked into the elevator, standing in front of me, slightly to the left, and looking down at me, with a slight sparkle of pity in her eyes.

"Wow, that's amazing! I never knew we were so close by!" I said, as the elevator doors closed and we started heading up once more.

"So how are you? I heard you got hurt pretty bad by those bastard thieves." She said, with fire in her eyes.

"It's fine. Hey, I probably wouldn't even be here, if it wasn't thanks to him." I indicated Nick by flicking my head up toward him.

"Speaking of which, who is this handsome fellow?" She said, eyeing Nick, who was leaning against the wall behind my wheelchair. She leaned in and whispered to me, "Is he your boyfriend?", even though I'm sure Nick could hear her perfectly fine, especially with those big cute ears of his, all the while giggling like a little girl.

"He wishes!" I said, laughing nervously, knowing that it was the other way around. "But he _is_ my police partner! Jamie: Nick. Nick: Jamie." I introduced them both. Looking up at Nick, his ears drooped a little, but he recomposed quickly and held out his paw.

"Wilde. Nick Wilde. Completely unrelated to Jack Savage." he said smiling. Jamie just giggled and shook his paw, slightly blushing.

"So where are you guys going?" She asked, having regained herself from talking with Nick, and gone back to standing next to my side..

"Judy just got out of the hospital, so I took her to dinner, and now I'm bringing her to her apartment. A perfect end to a perfect day." Nick said in response. Looking up at him, I noticed that he seemed happy enough too that he didn't need to push me around any more.

"Oh, nice! Anything's better than the hospital, I would imagine."

"Well, you obviously haven't been on sedatives yet." He said, sarcastically and laughing.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't just make a joke about drugs, Nick." I said, with facetious seriousness, and trying to hide my grin. The elevator stopped, then, and dinged open, almost taunting me with how close my apartment was.

"Looks like our stop. It was nice meeting you!." Nick said.

"You too! Judy, call me sometime if you want to hang out. It'd be nice to have another bunny to talk to! You know how to reach me right?"

"Yup. See you later Jamie!" I said in response, and waved as the elevator door closed back up causing Nick and I to be in isolation once more in the hallway leading to my apartment. Rolling me down toward the turn that hid my apartment's door, we started to hear loud talking coming from the corner.

"It's probably just my neighbors wondering where I am." I said, trying to be reassuring to Nick, whose ears had perked up, and had started to tense up.

"Yeah." He curtly said in return, but still was listening intently, while starting to crouch slightly. As we started to near the turn, I was able to start making out their voices.

"Hopps, we know you're in there! We have to speak with you about your seeming absence recently."

"Ok, so it _is_ just my-" I was cut off by the speaker's next sentence.

"We have your little foxy friend here, Hopps, and we don't need him alive. If you don't come out here in the next five seconds, we're going to send him back to the fox hell he belongs in." Sorry for Nick to have to hear that, I looked up and saw that he had anger in his eyes, ready to run around the corner and kill them both for threatening me, even if it was in vain. To stop him from doing something rash, I grabbed his arm, like how I did on the sky tram. Feeling my paw on his arm, he quickly regained his senses, left my stroller right behind the corner, and peeked around it.

"C'mon Hopps, we don't want to have to take drastic measures." They knocked heavily three times on the door, before Nick turned around and started signaling me in his classic way. He pointed toward the corner, held up two fingers, and finally started making this weird impersonation. He held up both of his pointer fingers together at the top of his head and mimicked chewing.

"You have a snout. Use it." I said quietly, confused and annoyed by his peculiar demonstration. He sighed slightly, and started talking,

"There are two of them, both rhinoceri. We could probably take both of them, if we had our tranquilizer guns, but I don't, and I'm assuming it's the same thing with you. I'm not going to risk you getting hurt, especially not after what you've been through. I'm going to call Fangmeyer for backup." He said, and started fumbling with his phone, hands shaking particularly violently, ultimately bringing it up to his ear, listening intently.

"Hopps, we're getting impatient! Don't make us hurt your friend." He said, laughing, and then started rapping on the door once more. For all I knew, he could be hitting the wrong door, freaking out my neighbors, since I couldn't risk looking around the corner because they would see my wheels and feet before I could see them.

"Fangmeyer, listen. We need your help. There are two rhinoceri camping out Judy's apartment." He paused for a moment, listening to his response. "It sounds like they're part of something bigger, yeah." He listened for a little more, before hanging up the phone, and slipping it back into his pant's pocket.

"He's on his way, going code four. Hopefully, noone bad will notice the lights." He whispered to me, before checking to make sure the two of them were still in their rightful places. "Ok, we're safe for now, so long as they keep thinking you're holed up in there." We waited in silence for another couple minutes, the two rhinoceri often calling out for me to come out, and Nick occasionally checking to make sure they hadn't moved.

"It's obvious they're not here, Darrel. You gonna call the boss to get us out of this or what?"

"Ugh, fine. Hold on." I started to hear footsteps.

"Crap!" Nick said, anxiously, starting to push me away quickly. Suddenly, a loud crash sound came

from my room, and I instantly felt annoyed.

"Hey, they are in there! Let's go!" The other rhinoceros said, as he kicked in the door. "Come out come out wherever you are!"

"I liked that vase. God Dammit." I cursed softly, but thankful to the fact that it had distracted them

once more. Nick, obviously feeling worried for me, wheeled me back to the elevator, and went to stand next to the corner, peaking every so often at the kicked open doorway. Each second of them searching through my apartment felt like an hour. I didn't know when they'd come out, or at what time, which made me worried for Nick as well as myself. Finally, though, after feeling like a millennia had gone by, the thunderous compared to how hushed everything had been noise of the elevator dinged, and out walked Fangmeyer.

Then finally, the elevator brought up Fangmeyer, and he brought me back over to Nick to be able to speak to both of us..

"Ok, I'm here. Fill me in." He said to Nick.

"Two rhinoceri, seems like they've been here a while. They've just been constantly threatening pain and suffering, oddly refusing to go into the apartment themselves."

"Maybe they think she's right behind the door, and they can't have her getting injured." He said, quietly. "Either way, doesn't change a thing. He said, and pulled out his tranquilizer gun."

"Might want to be a bit more quiet next time, officer." Someone said from behind us.

Hearing this, Nick spun around quickly, and grabbed an odd looking plastic object out of his coat pocket. Before anyone could react, he jabbed it into the the man's stomach, and a loud whining sound started up. Instantly, the rhinoceros started jerking around in a quite horrifying manner, before slumping over, and laying on the floor, occasionally twitching. Neither Fangmeyer nor I could say anything for a good couple seconds, in which we just looked at Nick, mouths agape.

"What was that?" I asked, loudly and with surprise filling my voice.

"Taser, newest issue. Chief handed it to me while you were asleep last night, I only just remembered I had it on me now. Where's the other guy?" He asked, raising a valid question. Where _was_ the last person? Looking around, we couldn't see him. All we could see where the red carpeted and tan walled hallways, devoid of any life other than us.

"Well, wherever he is, first things first." Fangmeyer said. He rolled the one rhinocerus up onto his back, and proceeded to place handcuffs on his wrists.

"Good riddance." Nick said, eyeing him with distrust. He looked both ways down the hallway, and peered around the corner once more. Leaning back toward us, he said,

"No one there, he must've gone around the other way or ran in fear. Fangmeyer, you good against him on your own?" Fangmeyer nodded in response and continued trying to get the resisting rhino into a standing position to be walked down the hall.

"Ok, well seeing as how Judy's apartment isn't exactly secure anymore, I'll bring her to somewhere safer for the next couple of days as we fix it up." Wondering what that might mean, I stayed silent in my chair, until Nick asked me, "Is there anything you need to grab before we go?"

"Um." I paused and thought. "Yeah, no. All I really need per say I have in my bag, I'm ready to head out." Nick nodded and turned my wheelchair, so it was facing into the elevator, and wheeled me in, and we started heading down.

"So where are we heading?"

"My apartment isn't too far away. We can probably make it before it's totally dark if we hurry. Tomorrow I'll go and grab the car so that we don't have to worry about getting around. That is, if you're feeling good enough to walk."

"We'll just have to see." I simply said. After a while, the elevator slowed to a halt and opened up, revealing the dimmer but still sunny lobby, with a few people milling about talking with one another. I told Nick to hold on a second while I explained everything that happened to the desk worker. She nodded and told me that the insurance would cover the door. We, then, were off once more.


	9. Nick's Place

_POV Judy_

"Back on the road again." Nick sang badly in a cheesy Southern accent, as we headed down the block.

"Really?" I responded, but not without a small chuckle and a fake offended look on his face.

"I'll have you know I won state championship for singing at my elementary school!" He said.

"Right, just like I won biggest national partier." I said sarcastically in response.

"Yeah, I heard about that. 'Unlikely bunny takes a break from studying to be a crazy partygoer.'"

"Exactly." I said laughing. "It was all over the news!" I relaxed more into my wheelchair and started to feel my head bob. Slowly, but surely, I fell asleep.

"Wakey wakey, rise and shine." When I didn't respond, the voice paused "No that's not right. Hm. Wakey wakey, salads and carrots?" Nick said, causing me to open my eyes, and watch him put down a plate with a nice smelling salad and carrots on the side. I yawned and replied,

"How long was I out?"

"Two, maybe three, hours." It took me a moment to realize where I was. Nick's apartment! This was the first time I was seeing it in person. He had shown me not the greatest quality pictures of it before, but I never got to be able to come here, mostly because of our schedules.

"Wow, so this is your place, huh?" I said, admiring the small dining room we were sitting in with the kitchen cradled into the side of it. The room was not particularly brightly lit, the light over the stove serving to provide a nice ambient glow casting shadows everywhere. It was, truthfully, sort of romantic. He probably didn't mean it that way, was just trying to save some power, or something, but a girl could wish, right?

"So, how's your carrots?" He asked me, smacking me out of my trance. Crap, I hadn't even touched my food yet, he probably thought I was being so rude!

"They're great! So great." I lied and looked down to cover my eyes.

"Judy, I've known you for a long enough time to tell when something's bothering you. What's wrong?"

"I'm just so worried for you, for my family, my friends. Everything. And it doesn't help that I think so highly of you." I sighed, before realizing what my last sentence could be interpreted as. Instantly, I corrected myself.

"You know, I respect you so much for what you became and all that, I wouldn't want you to lose all you did because I was here." I said, looking up at him.

"Judy, don't worry. We'll be fine. Of all places, we'll be fine here, believe me. There's nothing for you to be afraid of. Nothing's gonna walk through that door," he said, pointing at the door to the room, "without my express permission for them to do so." Hearing that, I actually did feel a lot better about my new temporary living accommodations, but there were still small butterflies of worry in my chest. Then all of a sudden came a knock from across Nick's apartment. Instantly, Nick's head shot up, fast, and he quietly went over to the stove, unlocked a cabinet next to the stove, and drew out a tranquilizer gun.

"Stay here." He said, quietly, and pointed to the ground. He knew, though, that wasn't going to happen. I shook my head in response and rolled behind him in my wheelchair, looking around his apartment at the same time out of curiosity. We entered a hallway which ended in a doorway, with a small peephole on it. Nick motioned for me to stay back as he crept up to the door and looked into the hole, holding the gun in a ready stance to fling open the door and start firing. I heard a faint "Oh!" come from him, as he placed the gun on a nightstand next to the door and opened it.

"Wilde, Hopps, good afternoon." I should've known it was Chief Bogo. The people wouldn't know where we went, even if they did know where I lived.

"Good evening, Chief." Nick said, saluting in response.

"Stand down, Nick. God knows that you two have done enough for me to have to salute you." He said.

"Would you like to come sit down with us in the kitchen?"

"Sure." He said, congenially. Nick nodded and started rolling me back the way we came. On the way back, I relaxed, breathing out deeply, realizing all of a sudden I had been holding my breath, and started to look around more, curiously eyeing a very expensive looking tv in a living room.

"Nick, how could you afford that?" I asked, surprised. "We're cops, not freaking Bill Gators."

"You seem to forget that I wasn't always a cop, Judy." He said nonchalantly. I took that as an acceptable response, so I kept exploring with my eyes. Finally, we reached the kitchen once more, and the smell of my dinner hit me again. Nick left me to my own devices as I ate, pulling out a chair for Bogo, and sitting down himself. Truthfully, I didn't pay attention to them while I ate, partly because they were talking about the case, which I was, honestly, sick of, and also because Nick was actually a pretty good cook. Just one thing to add to the list, I guess. As I was finishing up, the Chief stood up, and said that he should be on his way. Nick walked him to the door and came back to me, plonking himself down opposite me.

"Long day, huh?" He said, with a slight chuckle.

"Eh, it wasn't that bad." I replied. He yawned, looked at his watch, and asked me if I was ready to turn in for the night.

"Yeah, but where'll I sleep?" I asked, realizing the problem that existed.

"I've got a guest bedroom open. C'mon, I'll wheel you over." He said. As we entered the hallway, I started feeling drowsy, and muttered a "Thank God." when we reached the bedroom.

"Hm?" he asked, not fully hearing what I had said.

"Oh nothing." I said, pushing myself the rest of the way over to the bed. "Goodnight, and thanks for the bed!" I said. He smiled, also tired, and left. I lifted myself into the bed, not bothering to change, and laid down on my back. "Finally." I quietly said to myself, astonished to the fact that this was the first time I had been in a real bed in multiple days. I lay silently, and thought about home, about Jamie, and finally about Nick. Thinking happy thoughts, I quickly fell asleep.

Nick lay there, unmoving.

"Nick!" I screeched, terror in my voice. "Fangmeyer, do something!" I screamed, but it was too late. The rhino had come up behind him and knocked him out.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't our little bunny friend. Looks like you have noone to protect you now, huh? Ain't that a shame." He said, before picking me up with his massive hand. "Don't worry, your death won't take too long." He said, with me shivering in fear, or at least trying with his tight grip squeezing me tight. All of a sudden, he tilted me on my side, and shot his hand, and subsequently me, toward the wall, and I forced my eyes shut tightly in fear. Just before I hit it, however, I sat up straight. I groaned, and looked at the time on the alarm clock next to my bed. 2:17 AM. Great, now I had the choice of either bothering Nick, or trying to go back to sleep here. Sighing, having decided, I dropped back into my wheelchair, and wheeled myself out of my room. After looking around for a little bit, seeing by the moonlight Nick's beautifully decorated apartment, I finally found his room.

"Nick?" I asked, quietly, not wanting to disturb him too much.

"Hm?" He moaned, half asleep.

"I had a nightmare, can I sleep with you?" I said, feeling like a little girl asking her parents if she could sleep in their bed, humiliated beyond belief.

"Sure." He simply said, and lifted the blanket next to him. My embarassment slightly tempered, I wheeled myself over, lifted myself out of my wheelchair, and crawled in next to him. He lowered it over me slowly, and said,

"Better?"

"Yes." I replied. With a grumbly good, he fell fast asleep once more. I lay there, quietly, butterflies in my stomach from being in bed with Nick, but I followed suit quickly after. This time, I had nothing but pleasant, happy dreams with nothing bad in them whatsoever. When I finally awoke, however, Nick was nowhere to be seen.

"Nick?" I called out, before hearing the shower going in the next room. I decided to prank him, and got into my wheelchair. Rolling up to the wooden door, I slowly opened it, seeing the shower curtain immediately to my right. "Now I got you!" I thought, before shoving the curtain open! There was noone there, though. Realizing I had been duped, I turned around.

"You know, if you wanted to see me naked that badly, you could've just asked Carrots." Came the nonchalant, humorous voice of a half naked Nick, with a towel draped around his lower body, standing in front of me. Seeing and hearing him, I instantly turned very red, and very embarrassed. In that one moment, he had managed to break the emotional wall I had worked so hard to put up.

"You fucking idiot!" I yelled at him, stamping my foot, and started sobbing uncontrollably.

* * *

 _Sorry for this chapter taking so long, I've been caught up with school (and procrastination :p, and reading the OTS series of Maze Runner fics) Next chapter is started and I should be able to finish it this weekend for next week._


	10. Am I Dead?

What happened to Cops and Killers?

Is Guner dead?

WHAT'S THE SQUARE ROOT OF 6 SQUARED?!

All these questions answered in next week's episode of Over-The-Top WildeHopps Shipping!

In all seriousness, though, guys, I've been sort of dead. Been caught up with school and stuff, and while, yeah that's a terrible excuse, especially considering that at the beginning of when I started writing this fic (more or less August of last year) I promised myself I'd try to do a chapter a week. I've just had a lot on my plate and have sort of neglected you guys, which I'm sorry for. However comma, since the summers back, I don't have to worry about that stuff anymore! So I should be able to get back on schedule now and continue the fic. There's a lot of good stuff I have planned, and I'm sure you'll like it (including some new fics in general, so far I've got an idea in the works for Zoop and the Maze Runner, and _maybe_ something for The Infernal Devices/The Mortal Instruments).


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